Page 33 of High Stakes and Soulmates (Fanged Mistakes #3)

CYRUS

I’m so relieved to finally get out of the hospital.

“Freedom!” I declare as I’m escorted into the passenger seat of Ezio’s car.

“You weren’t even at the hospital long enough,” he says, evidently still fretting even though I was given the okay to leave. “You should still be there.”

“I think the doctor would know best, don’t you think?” I ask.

Apparently, Ezio doesn’t think so. He also makes Yorick, Julian, Atticus, and Casimir ride with us, like he’s confident we’re going to get ambushed if we’re alone.

“How are we all going to fit in this dinky sports car?” Atticus asks.

“Yorick can sit on your lap,” Julian suggests.

“Why would I sit on his lap? He can sit on mine,” Yorick announces as he plops his ass down and looks expectantly at Atticus. “Better yet, you can sit on my feet. I would have to throw away these shoes afterward, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get Cyrus home safely.”

Atticus reaches in and picks Yorick up, but the moment he looks like he’s going to put the furious vampire on the roof, Ezio is there prepared to chuck Atticus into the hospital if he dares set anyone on his precious car.

“In the trunk, then,” Atticus says.

“How about we just all squeeze in together like the best of friends?” Julian asks.

“The only thing on him I want to be squeezing is his neck,” Yorick says as he pushes Atticus off and climbs into the car, putting Julian on his lap while staring at Atticus like this move might make him jealous.

They clearly just want to fuck each other, but instead they must hop about like peacocks who don’t realize that it’s not a peahen they’re showing off to but each other.

Atticus reaches over and tries to pull Casimir onto his lap, but when Casimir slowly turns his head to look at him, even Atticus seems to think that maybe it was a poor idea.

“Is everyone happy now?” Ezio asks, quite sarcastically.

“I’ve never been happier in my life,” Yorick responds as he hugs Julian to him. “Oh, Julian, you smell so good .”

“Thanks. Before we came, I lay on the floor as a wolf and Casimir spritzed me with Gustov’s spray and brushed me,” Julian says, quite pleased by this.

“The confidence you say that with is astounding,” I comment. “And you’re not embarrassed at all?”

“Of course not. Ooh, once you learn how to shift, I’ll let Casimir groom you,” Julian says.

“I’m not quite sure how anyone feels about any of that,” I announce.

“Are you freaking out?” Julian asks.

“I’m… just… numb to it at the moment, I guess?

” I realize. “I’ve been caught up in everything else.

When we get home, I do want to see if we can get a meeting with that Witt vampire.

Phil, right? There’s something going on there.

One of the patrons at the club pulled me aside and told me that he was up to something that was bad enough it got him removed. ”

“You’re going to like… hobble into the office after being mauled?” Ezio asks, not sounding thrilled about any part of this.

“I was planning on walking in, but yes,” I say.

“Absolutely not. You’re resting. I’ll have Maeve call the guy in for questioning and go myself,” he decides.

“So I’m allowed to sit in a chair at Casimir’s?” I ask.

“Correct.”

“But not allowed to sit in a chair at work?”

“Correct.”

“I’ll be your chair,” Yorick unhelpfully adds. He’s obviously still back there trying to make Atticus jealous.

“I’ll have Phil come in for a meeting and I’ll record it, will that make you happy?” Ezio asks.

“No.” Why the hell does he think that I can’t even do my job now? Especially if he’s there beside me. Hell, I bet Casimir and Julian would follow us around as well. And Yorick would tag along just because he doesn’t want to be left out.

“Why do you want to go out?” Ezio asks, looking legitimately concerned by this.

“I feel fine. This werewolf shit must really work because I feel significantly better than I should, I assure you.”

Ezio is the furthest thing from reassured.

“What if… Ezio puts you on a live call so you can still interact but sit nice and safe at our place?” Julian asks.

“That’s such a good idea, Julian. Cyrus, you should go with that,” Yorick says.

“Sounds horrible,” I grumble, displeased, but realizing that I’m probably not going to get anything more.

“What is even more horrible is you wandering around after you nearly died!” Ezio says, and there’s a catch in his voice that makes me realize that maybe I should listen to him, at least for now.

I sigh. “Okay. As long as you set up something so I can be included, I’ll go along with it.”

Ezio looks relieved. “Good, good. Let’s call Maeve and see if she can get him to come in for questioning.”

I send Maeve a text, since at least that’s something I’m allowed to do, and she assures me she’ll let Ezio know when she has a time set up with Phil Witt.

The moment we arrive home, Ezio is at my door. It’s so fast I don’t even know if I’ve registered that he’s left the other side of the car.

“Do you want me to carry you? Do you need help? What do you want me to do?”

“Ooh, he could get down on his hands and knees like a horse,” Julian says. “I bet that would offer Cyrus the most relief on his wounds.”

I nod just for the hell of it. “That one. I like that one.”

“I will do it,” Ezio says. “I’m doing it.” He slowly lowers to the ground, like he thinks if he lowers himself slowly enough, I will call this off. “I am still doing it.”

“I want it like a pyramid. Like you and Yorick side by side and Julian on top, and then I’ll sit on Julian’s lap,” I direct.

“Yorick, get on the ground,” Ezio says, even though he also isn’t on the ground yet.

“Right where you belong,” Atticus comments.

Yorick gasps. “Who even invited you here? This is my best friend circle, and you’re not included. Why are you here?”

“Ezio asked me to stay here to help protect Cyrus,” Atticus says as he folds his arms over his chest and gives Yorick a defiant look. “He said, ‘You must stay here because Yorick’s weak little arms can’t protect anything.’”

Yorick’s eyes narrow, like he’s struggling to comprehend these words. “Stay here… as in… stay… at… Casimir’s?”

“That would be correct. If you have a problem with it, you can stay in that fun little shed over there. I’m sure it’ll be roomy compared to the shack of a house you live in.”

“You’ve never seen my house,” Yorick growls.

“Haven’t I?”

“Have you? What the fuck are you doing looking at my house! Were you going to burn it down? Casimir, you’re letting that man into your home? He’s clearly here to kill me.”

“Says the man who stabbed me in the back ,” Atticus snarls.

“By accident! Casimir, please!”

“He never tried to kill Julian like you did. Go on now, off to your shed,” Casimir says while Atticus chuckles. Then Atticus claps his hands, which… is beyond bizarre.

“Johnny, come carry the wounded one.”

The doors burst open and Atticus’s butler Johnny comes dashing out.

“You even brought your butler?” Yorick asks. “Ha, you can’t go anywhere without him. How sad.”

“Johnny, please remove Borick’s head from his body. It’s quite useless, so he’s no longer in need of it,” Atticus says.

“Yes, sir,” he says as he reaches for Yorick’s head. This makes Casimir cackle for some reason, while Yorick mostly looks furious at what Atticus called him.

“If you do manage to remove it, please don’t leave the body in the front yard. I have a nice packaging box that he fits in and this on-call lady who will dispose of the body,” Casimir informs them.

“You’re not having the delivery lady dispose of a body!” Julian says. “I’m not even sure why I need to clarify this.”

“There will be no body, Julian!” Yorick protests. “You’re supposed to go, ‘Don’t joke about the murder of one of my best friends!’”

“Well… obviously. Come along. Poor Cyrus is just stuck waiting for you all to get done being fools. Do you need a hand?” Julian asks me.

“Johnny, carry the wounded man,” Atticus orders.

“I’m good, thank you. And this just makes me feel better about myself. It’s odd how hanging around vampires makes that happen,” I say.

“Right? Like you’d think after hundreds of years they’d get wiser instead of weirder,” Julian agrees.

“The shed is also open for judgmental wolves,” Atticus says, like this is now his home and he’s allowed to decide who goes where.

“Ezio, has Maeve contacted you yet?” I ask.

He checks his phone in case he missed it during our strange debate. “Not yet.”

Once we get into the house, I’m paraded over to the couch where there are blankets and pillows, and I feel quite ridiculous as all of them stare at me and expect me to just ooze down into it all.

And of course they all surround me expectantly.

Gustov, seeing the comfy nest that’s been made for me, jumps into it and sinks down with a pleased sigh.

“Gus, no, that’s not yours,” Julian chides while he tries to get the dog off it, but Gustov just rolls onto his back, like he assumes Julian is here to give him a belly rub.

“I’m fine sitting here,” I say as I sit next to the dog.

Casimir smiles. “That is… ridiculously cute.”

“It’s cute your dog took the blanket and pillows from the wounded person?” Ezio asks. “ Is that cute?”

“Your friends are quite evil. It’s apparent why you like them,” Atticus says to Yorick.

“If you’re in here, you are actually not allowed to speak,” Yorick retorts. “Speaking is prohibited.”

“Johnny, the wounded one looks parched,” Atticus says. “Yorick cares so deeply about him that he didn’t notice.”

“I will get him some water,” Johnny says.

“No! I will!” Yorick insists as he races after Johnny, which seems to have been Atticus’s plan all along since he smiles, quite pleased with himself.

They both come rushing back with water in hand, and suddenly I’m double-fisting two waters for some odd reason.

One feels like warm tap water and the other actually has ice in it, so it’s easy to tell which one I’d prefer.

Ezio glances up from his phone. “Maeve said she’s unable to reach Phil at this moment…”

Casimir’s body stiffens from where he’s been taking pictures of his dog. “What does that mean?”

“You know as much as I do.”

“I know where he was staying,” Casimir says. “He better not be pulling any shit. I will drag him out myself and I will drown him lightly.” He stares at me before hesitating. “I will see if someone else can drag him out. I don’t think I should leave.”

I want to tell him I’m fine here, but I really don’t know whether I am or not. Who’s to say that Louis isn’t waiting for the moment that I’m not surrounded by vampires? I feel uneasy, but I really shouldn’t be. It’s foolish to be uneasy.

“You okay?” Ezio asks.

“Perfectly fine,” I assure him.

“You… sure?”

But I’m not… I’m on edge. If it wasn’t bad enough being afraid of vampires after the attack on my family, I now have werewolves to fear, my family’s killer is coming for my head, and to top it all off, Ezio is acting distant from me.

How have I never noticed how much I appreciate how close he is to me?

“Can you tell me more about Louis?” I ask.

Ezio looks at me in surprise. “I… the only stories I have about him are not good ones.”

“I don’t care. I want to know everything you know about him. I’ve spent so many years looking for information on the person who killed my family, and it would mean a lot to know about him.”

He watches me for a long moment, and I realize that maybe he thinks I want him to tell me about how Arturo died. And that’s not what I meant. I’m sure he doesn’t want to relive that, especially with everyone watching.

“Yeah. Sure.”

“I don’t want you to talk about something that bothers you,” I say. “Just… something about this Louis. It doesn’t even have to be much.”

“No, it’s fine. You’re right that it would be best to know what you’re dealing with. Atticus has been around for a while, but he said he doesn’t recognize the name and neither does Casimir.”

Atticus clarifies, “I don’t recognize the name, but like you said, who knows if the name you were given was his true name. When you live for hundreds of years, you pick up a lot of identities.”

“I’m sure all of yours have been shitty,” Yorick says as Atticus sinks into a chair.

Johnny smacks some dog toys off the footrest and slides it forward for Atticus’s feet.

He kicks them up while he turns his broody stare onto us.

It’s… a weirdly impressive pose. It’s a chair that has sat in Casimir’s living room since I met him, but Atticus makes it look like a throne.

And when he holds his hand out, Johnny slips a glass of blood into it.

Like… where the fuck did the wineglass of blood come from? Casimir isn’t that fancy over here. Hell, he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t even know how to make popcorn!

Yorick, refusing to be one-upped by him, slides onto the couch across from him and unbuttons the top button of his shirt as he lets his hair fall down. He does tuck a lock behind his ear, though, like he thinks making sure his earrings are on display will win this.

“Would you like to talk privately?” I ask, in case he isn’t prepared to lay it all out in front of the others. “I could have Casimir throw those two in the shed and see which comes out alive?”

Ezio laughs as he slides into a chair. “Nah, it’s okay. Maybe something I have to say will help us identify him and figure out where he’s been hiding all these years.”